After taking down the Ukrainians, the North Americans and the Koreans, Mineski now have their eyes set on taking down the titans of China in LGD Gaming in the Grand Finals of the PGL Open 2017 Minor tournament.

This is Mineski’s 2nd Grand Finals appearance of the young season — they lost to Team Liquid 3-1 in the Grand Finals of the Starladder Minor last week. Meanwhile, for LGD Gaming, this will be their first.

The Korean Overlords Prove no Match for Mineski

Much has been said about Immortals’ penchant for showing up in LANs as a much better team. And though they lost to LGD Gaming back on Day 1 of the tournament, they didn’t exactly go down without putting up a fight.

Immortals proved that they were unfazed after taking Game 1 on the backs of the vaunted Phantom Assassin of Kim ‘QO’ Seon-yeop. However, Mineski would quickly learn their lesson in both Games 2 and 3, removing Phantom Assassin from the hero pool.

In Game 2, Mineski went with a tri-core hero line of Pugna, Monkey King, and Mirana. Although QO and his Sven spent much of the game on top of the net worth, he could not just carry his entire team to victory. Certainly not with Anucha ‘Jabz’ Jirawong with the timely initiations and the rest of Mineski providing enough control to kite him around.

The series clincher was a bit of a lopsided affair in favour of Mineski.

Once again, Chai ‘Mushi’ Yee Fung came up big on the unconventional Vengeance Spirit core pick, ending the game with a 14-3-12 K/D/A score. Although Kam ‘NaNa’ Boon Seng and his Mirana deserves a lot of credit as well.

Evil Geniuses Come Up Short Against LGD Gaming

Despite coming into the matchup as underdogs, LGD Gaming quicklyproved that they were anything but.

The fourth-place finishers at The International 7 led for much of Game 1 with Lu ‘Maybe’ Yao leading the way on his Ursa. Xu ‘fy’ Linsen also seems to have acclimated better to his teammates in his first LAN with them as well, with his offlane Enchantress playing a key role in their win.

Evil Geniuseslooked to bounce back in Game 2 with a signature Storm Spirit pick for Syed Sumail ‘SumaiL’ Hassan. However, despite things going mostly their way early game, they could not keep up with LGD Gaming.

As the constant skirmishes gave Wang‘Ame’ Chunyu all the freedom in the world to farm and split push, Evil Geniuses would slowly find themselves losing their control of the game starting at the 30-minute mark.

From then on, LGD Gaming seized the decisive moment, going for Roshan and picking up Aegis of the Immortal for themselves before pushing high ground not long after.

With two of their lanes down just 35 minutes into the game and facing an insurmountable gold deficit with Ame’s Terrorblade having become too big to contain, Evil Geniuses eventuallyhad no choice but to call GG and bow out from the PGL Open 2017 Minor tournament.

The PGL Open 2017 Grand Finals

A legitimate powerhouse heading into the new season, LGD Gaming have had quite the rough start. Their latest addition, fy, have not had the immediate impact most people thought he would while losing Chen ‘Victoria’ Guanhong to an undisclosed illness could not have come at a worse time.

By winning the PGL Open 2017 Minor, however, LGD Gaming will be able to salvage their earlier shortcomings and prove that they remain one of the best Dota 2 teams in the world.

On the other hand, a win here would be big for Mineski; it would help them secure at least 720 QP for the season. Additionally, a win here bodes well for Mineski’s chances of receiving a direct invite to future Minors and Majors.

Which team do you think will come away with the PGL Open 2017 trophy? Be sure to let us know your thoughts in the comments down below.

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